About L-Systems

I am greatly interested in nature and the world around me. As an artist I prefer to explore it through science or maths, rather than through direct observation. L-Systems are a set of mathematical rules developed by Aristid Lindenmayer that describe the construction of a wide range of organic structures including trees and the network of blood vessels in the body.

I began by creating digital models of L-Systems and then developed my work by interpreting these in other media. The initial series “L-Systems” remains fairly close to the original development of the work however “L-Systems Fragments” seek to explore further.

“L-System Fragments” is a series that derives from the original “L-Systems” series. “L-System Fragments” are a way of putting a microscope on the subject and digging deeper. In these paintings I am looking for component parts, discreet segments in the same way we seek out cells or even individual molecules or atoms that make up living structures.

Aristid Lindenmayer (17 November 1925 – 30 October 1989) was a Hungarian biologist. In 1968 he developed a type of formal languages that is today called L-systems or Lindenmayer Systems. Using those systems Lindenmayer modelled the behaviour of cells of plants.

Lindenmayer worked with yeast and filamentous fungi and studied the growth patterns of various types of algae, such as the blue/green bacteria Anabaena catenula. Originally the L-systems were devised to provide a formal description of the development of such simple multicellular organisms, and to illustrate the neighbourhood relationships between plant cells. Later on, this system was extended to describe higher plants and complex branching structures.

Do great things for art today. HELP ARTISTS SURVIVE by sharing work far and wide!